Roller Coaster of Love
by Slaymesoftly
Summary: Retro AU season 4 fic written to meet a challenge at the Bloodshedverse. Buffy and Spike work to solve a mystery at an amusement part and learn some things about themselves. AN will explain the challenge and its criteria.
1. Roller Coaster of Love

Author's note: In response to Challenge #10 at the Bloodshedverse. Criteria were: Spike and Buffy trapped in amusement park; Spike feeds Buffy cotton candy; they go on either the Tunnel of Love or the Haunted House; they are chased onto the roller coaster by clowns; Buffy is afraid of roller coasters; there are mirrors involved somehow. I believe those are all the "must haves". This was the first time I did a challenge fic and it's a little thin on plot, but hey, I wrote it in two days so waddaya want? Since it's a Bloodshedverse challenge, I also made it a little bitey and a little smutty.

**ROLLERCOASTER OF LOVE**

"You want me to what?" Buffy's voice was squeaky and the look on her face was incredulous. "Giles, you know I don't like amusement parks. They have roller coasters, and haunted houses, and roller coasters and ferris wheels and roller coasters..."

He rubbed his forehead and repeated his instructions, adding, "I understand that there are many things in amusement parks that you don't care for, Buffy. However, you are the Chosen One and this particular amusement park seems to require the use of your services. No one who has entered it in the last few days has returned home."

"And yet, you want me to willingly go in there and take a chance on being stuck in one of my least favorite places." Buffy's lower lip stuck out as she glared at him through narrowed eyes.

"Aw, lighten up, Buff," Xander spoke up. "We can all go. Make a night of it."

Anya looked at him with annoyance. "What is an amusement park? Who is going to amuse us there?"

"Well, you kind of amuse yourself, Ahn. There are fun things to ride on, junk foods to eat, weird side show people, stuff like that."

"Weird people – don't we already do that? Every night? Junk food?" she gestured to the doughnuts on the table. "And what kinds of fun things to ride on? Do you mean like donkeys or elephants?"

"No, silly," Willow spoke up. "Things like merry-go-rounds, and bumper cars and," she stole a quick look at Buffy and lowered her voice, "and roller coasters. We could have fun at the same time we look for the demon that's causing all the problems."

"That's settled then," Xander stood up. "We're off to beard the Phantom of the Amusement park in his den!"

**XXXXXXXXX**

The first thing they could see as they approached the park was the tall tower that housed part of the roller coaster. The rest of the ride loomed over the park, the twists and turns alternating with incredibly high rises and equally steep descents. The joyful screaming of the passengers could be heard all the way in the parking lot.

Buffy shuddered and turned her eyes away from the only thing that could frighten the experienced Slayer.

"God, I hate those things," she muttered. "If the demon is hiding on that thing, he's getting a pass from me. Somebody else will have to go find him."

"Aw, cheer up, Buff," Xander said, punching her on the arm. "What can go wrong in a place made for fun?"

"Well, that can, for one," she answered, pointing toward the leather coat-clad figure coming their way. Spike swaggered up to them, all cocky attitude and killer cheekbones, stopping directly in front of Buffy.

"Slayer! Don't tell me you're out for a night of fun? Won't that be hard? What with that stick up your ass an' all."

"Bite me, Spike. Oh wait, that's right. You can't." She tossed her head and tried to walk around the vampire, only to find him falling into step beside her. "Go away," she growled. "I'm working here."

"That's alright, I'll just follow along and watch you slay things. If I can't kill something, I can at least get my spot of violence watching you."

In spite of her protestations, Buffy was somewhat grateful for his company. Her companions, as soon as they saw that Buffy had someone to walk around with, quickly left her to go ride the roller coaster and sample the other amusements offered. Xander had promised Anya they would try everything at least once.

"So, Slayer," he said after they had walked in silence for a while. "What exactly are we looking for?"

"_I_," she said, emphasizing the pronoun, "am looking for whatever is causing people to come in to this park and never go home."

"They disappear?" he asked, tilting his head at her and raising one eyebrow.

With a sigh of resignation, she decided to tell him what was going on, just in case he might know of an amusement park demon.

"We don't know if they disappear, can't leave, or are just having too much fun to go home. Maybe all of the above. I need to find out the what, the why and the who and then kill something and fix it."

"Sounds like my kind of fun. Can I play?" He looked at her hopefully.

"Maybe," she said, looking at him sideways. "If you're good."

_This is only because he's a demon and might know something. It has nothing to do with my actually wanting him around. I have no desire to see him or his sexy smile, or his pretty blue eyes, or... Gah!_

"Oh, I can be _very_ good, Slayer. Don't you remember?"

This was the first time they had been alone together since Willow's spell, and the memory of the kissing and caressing they had done that night was still very fresh in her mind. Try as she might, she couldn't pretend that her mortal enemy wasn't one of the best kissers she'd ever run across. She saw him looking at her out of the corner of his eye and felt her face flush with heat when his eyes went up and down her body. She suddenly wished she'd dressed a little better for this foray into one of her least favorite places, then just as quickly, mentally smacked herself for the thought.

_There will be no dressing to attract the chipped vampire. The last thing I want is for him to think I want any more kissing, or hugging, or..._

Spike watched the girl walking beside him and tried to figure out what was going through her head. He saw her flush when she caught him looking at her, and heard her heart beat increase slightly.

_Hmmm... Am I making the Slayer nervous? Never did that before, not even when I was trying to kill her. I wonder if there's any chance she... no, not in a million years. Forget it, you stupid git. That one night of cuddling and kissing is all you're gonna get._

He sighed quietly as he thought about the night she'd spent curled up on his lap, allowing him to run his hands over her soft but strong body while she kissed him with warm supple lips and sent her warm tongue exploring his mouth. He silently cursed the witch for breaking her spell before he had a chance to get the Slayer alone. He knew he could have had that warm little body if he'd just been given enough time and a place.

_Not that I really want her. Bloody hell! She's the bane of my existence. But it's been awhile since I was close with anything but my hand, and she does have a body that makes me... always has. Even that first time I saw her dancin' with her friends. Got hard just watching her. Knew right away she was the Slayer. Nobody else could move like that. Got to be incredible to feel that body movin' under... Bollocks! Now I'm getting hard just thinkin' about her!_

Ignoring Buffy's curious look, he pulled his duster across the front of his body to hide the bulge now very visible in the front of his jeans. To distract her, he stopped and bought a cone of cotton candy, quickly catching up when she went on without him.

"Couldn't you wait two seconds, Slayer?" he grumbled as he caught up with her.

Buffy just shrugged and kept walking, shooting glances around the park as she tried to figure out what could be happening to the customers. The people she saw looked happy enough, although some of them did seem to be really tired and she noticed them looking toward the parking lot longingly, even as they headed for another amusement.

_If they're that tired, I wonder why they don't just leave?_ she wondered as she continued her stroll around the grounds. She tried not to look at Spike and the large, pink cotton candy he was steadily munching. Her mouth was watering for the sugary goodness, but she was determined not to give him the satisfaction of asking for a bite.

He saw the longing glances she was casting toward his treat and he tried to outlast her, to make her ask him to give her some. It was a losing battle, and he knew it. When he realized she was going to hold out longer than his candy was going to last, he gave in and held it out toward her.

"Want some, pet?" he asked softly, watching her look back and forth from the candy to his face suspiciously.

"What did you do to it?" she asked, even as she leaned toward it and her tongue came out to lick her lips, causing Spike to give a silent groan.

"Nothing, you stupid bint. It's fine, see?" He took a chunk of cotton candy in his fingers and brought it to his mouth. Without taking his eyes off her, he slowly opened his mouth slightly and stuck out his tongue to lick the ball of spun sugar. Using his tongue to pull the handful into his mouth, he wrapped his lips around it and allowed an expression of pure pleasure to take over his face.

_Ohhh, what does he think he's doing? That is soooo not bothering me _Buffy assured herself, unaware that the vampire was more than conscious of her increased breathing and heart rate, not to mention the smell of her arousal.

_Okay, bloodsucker, two can play at this game!_

Meeting his eyes and trying to hide her nervousness, she reached out and took her own piece of the sugary confection. Her little pink tongue darted out and delicately poked at the candy before capturing a small amount and pulling it into her mouth. She sucked the candy in and allowed her cheeks to hollow out as she swirled it around in her mouth before visibly swallowing. She smothered a triumphant smile as Spike stared at her mouth in a daze. Quickly popping the rest of her bite into her mouth and eating it, she turned and flounced away toward the haunted house, licking her sticky fingers as she went.

"I'm going to check this place out." She called over her shoulder. "Are you coming, Spike?"

_Oops! I definitely didn't mean to say THAT. I've really got to start thinking before I open my mouth. I wonder if he noticed... oh, yeah. He noticed._

_Not yet, I'm not, you dick-teasing bitch. But I'm going to sooner or later. _He grumbled to himself as he wrapped his coat even tighter around his erection and glared at her before following her into the Haunted House. They were so wrapped up in their mutual tormenting that it didn't occur to either one of them to wonder why they weren't being asked for tickets as they entered the darkened building.

"Why would anyone who lived on a Hellmouth want to spend their fun time going through a haunted house?" Buffy wondered aloud as they proceeded through the hallways, dodging fake spider webs and completely unfrightening, but very active, plastic skeletons.

"Maybe it's nice to be someplace where you know all the nasties around you aren't real," Spike suggested.

"I guess that's makes sense," she surprised him by agreeing. "There's certainly nothing in here that's very scary." As she spoke, they entered a room full of mirrors and Spike stopped in shock.

"Well this is!" he exclaimed as he looked around and saw his own reflection over and over. He walked up to the nearest mirror and tapped on it lightly to see if it was real. He grabbed Buffy's hand and pressed it to his chest.

"Is my heart beating?" he demanded. "Have I turned into a soddin' human?"

Buffy snorted at him dismissively and said, "No, you're as undead as you ever were." Her hand seemed to have a mind of its own as it remained touching his chest even after he let go of it. She couldn't help moving it around lightly in the way she had when Willow's spell had her in love with him. She was enjoying the feel of lean muscle under her hand until she saw the expression on Spike's face and realized he was leaning toward her, his eyes fastened on her mouth.

With a quick shake, she jumped back from him, trying not to see the disappointment that flashed from his eyes. She turned and studied the reflections surrounding them saying, "They must be magicked somehow. That's why you can see yourself. At least we know we're on the right track."

Spike turned away from her to look at himself more closely. "I am a handsome devil, if I say so myself." He beamed at his reflection. "What d'you think, Slayer?" he asked as he preened in front of the mirrors.

"I think it's a good thing you can't usually see yourself," she snarked, giving him a playful shove. She turned to continue their walk through the building, then realized she had no idea how to get out of the maze of mirrors by which they were now completely surrounded. She tried a few dead ends and stopped to chew her lip in frustration.

When she noticed that she couldn't see anyone but herself, she whirled around looking for Spike, but there was no sign of the vampire or any of his reflections.

"Terrific," she mumbled. "He's probably busy admiring himself and has forgotten all about me."

"I heard that," a disembodied voice with a familiar accent came from her right.

"Spike? Where are you? We need to get out of here and find Willow. If there's magic going on, she might be able to—eeep!" She jumped as a pair of strong arms went around her from behind and someone said, "Gotcha!" Suddenly there were two reflections facing her.

"How did you find me so fast?" she asked, trying hard not to relax back against his chest in relief.

"Vampire, love," he replied. "I can hear your heartbeat, I can feel the warmth from your breath, and," he paused and nuzzled her neck sending heat racing through her body, "I'd know your scent anywhere."

He looked up at their reflections and brilliant blue eyes laughed into shocked green ones as they met in the mirror. Suddenly he stopped laughing and his face wore a very different expression.

"Make a good-looking couple, don't we, pet?" he said lightly, trying not to sound like he was pleading for her to agree. She just studied their reflections for a few minutes, then reluctantly took his hands and removed his arms from around her body.

"Yes, I guess we do. But looks can be deceiving. Only magic mirrors would show a vampire and a slayer together. Not real ones."

Her hands were still holding his down at their sides and her breath caught in her throat at the sad look on his face. For some reason it was easier to look at his reflection and talk to him than it was to do it face to face, and she found herself admitting things she had never planned to tell him.

"You and me – us – it's only magic that makes it work. Without a spell we're just mortal enemies who haven't managed to kill each other yet. Without the magic, we're nothing. We have to be."

"I don't need magic to want you, Slayer," he said in her ear, never taking his eyes off the reflection facing him. When she didn't look away from his penetrating gaze, he slowly turned her around to face him and tipped her head up toward his. He lowered his mouth and just before his soft, cool lips gently met her hers, he whispered, "I will always want you."

Buffy's brain went into overdrive as she tried to process what Spike was saying, but she couldn't form a coherent thought as his lips moved easily around on hers. She already knew from the spell that his kisses could go from tender and sweet to hard and passionate and back again before she could pause for breath. She responded to him in spite of herself, letting the kiss evolve and deepen as his tongue swept across her upper lip, asking gently to be let in. With a moan from the back of her throat, she gave in to her body's demands and melted into him, meeting his tongue with her own and inviting it in.

_Bloody hell, she feels like a furnace. A very soft, supple, curvy furnace. Ah, Buffy, love. You feel so good. Want you so bad. Got to have—no, no, love. Don't pull away! Don't—_

Buffy could feel his desire pressing against her stomach and she fought the urge to climb up his body and put that hard bulge against her dampening underwear. The longer the kiss went on, the more lost she was in the feel of the man holding her and the sensations he was creating in her body with just his lips and tongue.

_This is not good. Very not good, bad Buffy. Must be the magic. I just need to control myself until we get out of this building and I'll be fine. No problem. I can do that. I can push away from the sexy vampire and his hard body. I can do this._

She gathered every ounce of her will power and broke the kiss, pushing him gently away from her. They stood still for a minute, his hands resting on her waist and their foreheads pressed together as they both waited for their breathing to go back to normal. Finally, with a shaky laugh, Buffy moved back and he reluctantly let go of her.

"Well, I know why I'm breathing hard," she said blushing furiously, "but what's your problem? You don't even need to breathe."

"You make me feel alive, love. It's what happens when I'm around you."

She had no idea how to respond to that, and looked around the mirrored alcove to cover her confusion.

"I suppose we need to get out of here and keep looking for the bad guys," she said with more certainty than she felt. "Any ideas?"

He took her hand and pulled her toward one of mirrors. "Yep, lots of 'em. But I'm guessing you meant ideas about how to get out of here." He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she had to laugh even as she blushed again.

To her surprise, he had no trouble finding the open areas and they were soon back in the dark hallways with the fake spider webs.

"How did you do that?" she grumbled. "I couldn't see anything but hundreds of Spike and Buffys."

"I used my nose and ears, pet. I just followed the sounds of the park and the smell of the fresh air."

"Humph. Who knew vampires could be so useful..."

Before he could snark back at her, they were confronted by a tall man dressed like Dracula. When they didn't flinch back from him, he raised his arms to make the cape look like bat wings and intoned, "Be afraid. Be very afraid."

They looked at each other and burst out laughing, to the great displeasure of what was supposed to be the final fright in the Haunted House. He glared at them fiercely and said, "Dracula will not be mocked!" He raised his arms again and flashed a very good set of fake fangs in their direction.

Spike looked at Buffy and raised an eyebrow inquiringly. When she smiled and nodded, he turned back to the still miffed Dracula and asked, "Are you sure about that, mate?" as he shifted into game face. With a horrified shriek, the man fell back against the wall, scrabbling to retreat even further as Spike leaned toward him and licked his lips.

Buffy grabbed him by the arm and said between bursts of giggles, "Come on, Spike. You're going to give the man a heart attack!"

She pulled him the rest of the way down the hall and they emerged into the lights of the park, still laughing and clinging to each other.

**Chapter Two**

When Buffy's laughter had wound down to gasping giggles, she reluctantly stopped leaning on Spike and pulled away from him again. He unconsciously tightened his grip on her waist, not wanting to be without some contact with her warm body. When he saw her determinedly set face, he sighed and released her, shoving his hands back into his duster pockets.

He fumbled around in his pockets until he found his cigarettes and lighter, and as he lit up and blew a smoke ring past her head he asked, "What now, pet? We know there's magic here, but I haven't seen or smelled any demons yet."

Before Buffy could answer, Xander, Willow and Anya came around the corner and ran up to them.

"There you are, Buffy," Willow said breathlessly. "We've been looking all over for you. What were you doing?"

Buffy blushed bright red and pinched Spike's arm when he smirked and started to reply for her, "The Slayer and I were just enjoying another magic spell..."

Willow looked at Buffy with wide eyes. "So you know there's magic here?" she asked, looking curiously at Buffy's red face.

"Yeah, we found some magic mirrors. Spike could see his reflection. It was spooky."

"Terrifying would be more like it," Xander snarked. "Multiple Spikes? So not of the good. You broke all the mirrors, I hope!"

"No, whelp, but we did steam them up pretty good," Spike growled at him, dodging the angry fist Buffy aimed at his nose.

"I'm going to pretend I never heard that," Xander mumbled. He turned away from the grinning vampire only to turn white as a sheet and begin moving his mouth rapidly without making a sound. They all turned to look at what had so obviously frightened him, only to see a clown approaching.

"A clown," he finally got out. "There's a clown here."

Spike looked at him curiously. "So there's a clown. Not so unusual in a place meant for fun."

"It's evil," the boy said firmly.

"Evil?"

"They're all evil. All clowns are evil. They—"

"Xander, we've been over this," Willow said impatiently. "Just because you got scared by a mean clown when we were in kindergarten, doesn't mean they're all evil." She put her hands on her hips indignantly, turning back to the approaching clown only to add slowly, " Of course, I could be wrong about this one..."

Everyone turned away from Xander to follow the redhead's stare toward the rapidly nearing clown, which could now be seen to be carrying a very large and sharp-looking ax.

"Uh, Slayer? Weapons?" Spike asked quietly, moving with her to get between the clown and the Scoobies.

"Just a stake," she muttered. When he gave her a critical look, she snapped, "What? I wasn't expecting a homicidal clown."

"Uh, better make that clowns, plural, Buffy." Willow's soft warning was almost too late as the Slayer's attention went back to the clown just in time to duck his first swing. While she flipped over the garishly dressed apparition to attack him from behind, Spike moved up to intercept the next in what appeared to be an unending line of ax wielding clowns pouring out of the Haunted House.

"Can you guys get out of here?" Buffy managed to gasp out as she used the ax she had wrested away from the first clown to mow down two more.

"Yeah, I think I'm strong enough to break the spell that's been keeping everyone in here. At least as far as we're concerned. What do you want us to do?"

"Go back to Giles. Tell him what's going on. See if he has any ideas about what's causing this. Maybe a warlock or something. Come back with weapons." As she gave instructions, Buffy continued to parry ax strokes and decapitate clowns. Beside her, Spike was doing his best to keep up with the onslaught using another ax recovered from a now-headless clown.

"But, Buffy, if I leave, you and Spike won't be able to get out. Not unless you find the source of the spell and break it."

"We'll be all right, Will. Just go!"

With a last worried look at the two blonds standing back-to-back and battling what seemed to be an unending stream of very focused clowns, Willow joined Xander and Anya in running toward the exit. As they neared it, Willow threw up her hand and muttered some words in Latin. There was a spark and a glow, as they ran through the gate and toward the car.

Behind them, tired patrons who had been hanging around the gate, unwilling to leave and too tired to continue riding things, raced to follow them through the gap. As word spread that the barrier was down, more and more people came to their senses and sprinted toward the gate from all areas of the park.

"Do you think it will stay broken, Willow?" Anya asked as they jumped into the car.

"I don't know. I hope so. Maybe whoever did it won't notice for a while and everyone will be able to get out. Buffy probably won't leave until she finds what's doing it, so she and Spike—"

"What's with the 'she and Spike' stuff?" Xander blurted. "I don't get why the evil bloodsucker is still there. I'd think he'd be happy Buffy might get killed."

"You are so stupid, Xander," his girl friend said as she rolled her eyes. She and Willow looked at each other.

"You think?" asked Willow.

"Don't you?" the ex-demon demanded.

"Well, I was sort of hoping not; but you're probably right," Willow sighed. "Here we go again."

"Here we go again where?" Xander was growing frustrated with the by-play between the two women that was leaving him in the dark. "What are you talking about? And what has it got to do with Spike staying behind with Buffy?"

"He loves her, Xander. Anyone can see it." Anya tossed her head in disgust. "Anyone except you, anyway. And," she added, "I think she loves him back. She just doesn't know it yet." She settled back on the seat with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Willow," he begged. "Say it isn't so. Tell me it's another spell."

"Sorry, Xan, I think Anya's right. Buffy's got another vampire boyfriend. But, hey! Big plus. No soul to lose if they should..."

"Please don't finish that thought!" he groaned as he guided the car back to Giles' apartment complex.

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

Back in the park, Buffy was beginning to tire as the seemingly endless supply of armed clowns continued to surround them. Spike could hear her labored breathing, and while he had no breath to run short, he was beginning to wish the axe wasn't quite so heavy in his hand. He backed up until he and Buffy were almost touching and said over his shoulder, "What d'ya think, pet? Time to see how fast clowns can run?"

"Yeah, think that might be one of your better plans," she gasped as she fended off yet another strike at her head. "I'm ready when you are."

"On three then. One, two... three!" They each flipped themselves over the heads of the opponents in front of them and whirled to sprint down the main street of the arcade.

"We need to hide somewhere until we figure this out," Buffy gasped as they raced down the street.

"Here, let's duck in here," he pulled her into another dark building and they stumbled into a waiting car of some sort. They collapsed onto the seat, breathing hard and listening for sounds of pursuit. It was almost completely dark in the building and Spike shifted to game face to look around.

"Uh oh," he muttered as he realized where they were. No sooner had he said that, causing Buffy to say, "What do you mean, 'uh oh?'" than the car gave a jerk and began to move.

The initial jerk threw them against the back and when a large bar slammed into place across their laps, Buffy gave a little yelp of fear. Meanwhile, the car changed position abruptly so that they were forced against the back of the seat as it tilted on end and began moving slowly up toward the top of the building.

"Please tell me this is not what I think it is," Buffy ground out between her teeth. "I am NOT on a roller coaster, am I?"

"Relax, pet. It might be fun." He was beginning to laugh at her obvious panic.

"No, no fun. These are not fun. I'm getting off now!" As she went to lift the bar off her lap, he grabbed her hands and held them.

"You can't do that Slayer. We don't know how high we are, or if there's a way down. You'll just have to ride it out."

He frowned as her heart rate went faster than he'd ever heard it and she squeezed his hands hard enough to hurt.

"You don't understand, Spike. I can't do this. I just can't." Her voice quivered and he could smell the salty tang of tears.

Just then, the car they were in burst up out of the dark building and turned to plummet down the tracks toward the ground. Buffy gave a low moan and closed her eyes in fear. Spike stopped laughing at her and pulled her into his arms, hiding her face in his chest.

"It's alright, love. It'll be over soon, I promise. These things never take more than a couple of minutes." He stoked her head and tried to take her mind off the fact that they were hurtling around a very narrow track with nothing on either side but air. He racked his brain for some way to distract her from what was going on.

Suddenly inspiration seized him and he tipped her head up to capture her mouth in a fierce kiss. Forgetting tenderness, he swept his tongue into her open mouth and began teasing hers with it as his lips moved around and around on hers. For several seconds there was no response, then slowly, she began to kiss him back, bringing her own tongue into play and nipping at his bottom lip.

He smiled against her mouth and murmured, "There's my brave girl. We've got better things to do than worry about this trip." As the kiss intensified, he slid one hand under her shirt and stroked the warm skin on her back. Without breaking his rhythm, his hand managed to unhook her bra and before she could protest, he had slid around to cup one breast. He ran his thumb over her nipple and was gratified to hear her catch her breath as she arched up into his hand.

While the roller coaster continued to fly up and down the artificial hills, and around the gravity defying curves, Spike's hand continued to move around Buffy's body, touching everything he could reach without letting go of her. He kept his mouth on hers; pausing only briefly so that she could breath in between deep, wet kisses that had them both aching for more contact than was possible in the rapidly moving vehicle.

Spike opened an eye when they were at the top of one hill to scan the area for clowns, but saw none. He noticed a stream of zombie-like people moving slowly into a large building across the park and made a note of where it was. Although he couldn't see the clowns anymore, he did see several large plastic creatures waddling through the park as though animated by whatever had sparked the skeletons, mirrors and roller coaster.

The ride eventually slowed and re-entered the bottom of the dark tower, coming to a halt with a slight bump. Still joined at the lips, the two former enemies quickly crawled out of the car and stumbled onto the platform. Buffy's shirt was pushed up to her collarbone and her bra was hanging off to the back. Her hands were under Spike's T-shirt, and her mouth quickly slid down to plant kisses all over his chest. She paused to nip at his neck, remembering from Willow's spell how much he liked that. She was rewarded by a hiss and a tightened grip on her hips as he pulled her against his body.

Buffy moaned and jumped up to wrap her legs around his waist, allowing her to rub against his bulging jeans and create even more need. With a "Bloody hell!" he dropped to the floor and rolled over, pinning her beneath him and grinding into her as hard as he could. After minutes of fully clothed humping, Spike broke the lip contact to pull back and yank his shirt off before doing the same to Buffy's shirt and bra. While he struggled to get his hand under the waistband of her pants, she was busy popping buttons on his jeans to release his erection.

Growling in frustration, he was about to rip her pants off her body when Buffy, giggled and unfastened the clasp that was slowing him down. He quickly pushed the pants down her legs and let her finish pushing them off with her feet. No sooner were they gone, then he was covering her with his body, pressing every inch of cool flesh that he could to the flushed, warm skin beneath him.

He grabbed her wrists and pinned them over her head as he once again attacked her mouth with frantic kisses.

_Don't change your mind, Buffy. Let me in, love. Let me show how much I want you. Let me... let me..._

Underneath him, her strong, feminine body was writhing as she tried to press up against him everywhere she could. She pulled his tongue into her mouth and sucked on it until he was moaning in the back of his throat.

_This is so wrong, but it feels so right. Feels so good. God, I want him. Want him so much... make love to me, Spike. Make me feel you..._

He

lifted himself up off her slightly so that he could whisper in her ear and he gently used his knee to spread her thighs.

"Let me in, love. Want to love you. Want to make you scream. I'll make it good, love. I promise..." He was ready to go on, but Buffy opened her thighs and wrapped her legs around his, putting his throbbing cock at her very ready entrance.

"News flash, vampire, " she whispered back. "If I didn't know it would be good, we wouldn't be here. So show me what you got, Spike. Make me scream."

"My pleasure, love," he growled as he began to push in to her an inch at a time. He teased her by pushing in a little bit, then pulling back until she whimpered, then pushing in again a little further each time. When she continued to whimper, he stopped for a second to ask, "Am I hurting you, pet? Do you want me to stop?"

Buffy frantically shook her head "no" and used her slayer strength to pull him down onto her, driving him the rest of the way in. His groan of pleasure was drowned out by Buffy's "Yes!" as she felt him fill her completely. For precious seconds they remained still, just getting used to the idea that they were actually connected so intimately for the first time.

Spike felt like he was buried in warm velvet. He could feel Buffy with every one of his enhanced senses; he inhaled her scent, he could just barely see her lust filled eyes as they focused on his own. He could feel and hear her heart beat, feel her blood pulsing just under her skin. Most of all he could feel her strong slayer-enhanced muscles gripping his cock and squeezing it gently as she moaned under him.

Buffy felt more complete than she ever had before. The vampire's skin was cooling her heated body, even as the gentle movements he was beginning to make made her burn even hotter. She tasted the skin on his neck, sucking gently on it as he gasped out her name. She breathed in his scent, a smoky mix of flavors, tobacco, bourbon, and a musky, earthy scent that was just Spike.

Their gentle movements became harder and stronger as the need for release built and built until Buffy screamed his name and clenched around him so tightly he exploded in a roar of completion. As he did, his fangs elongated and he sank them in to her neck, drawing a long pull of her blood before they retracted and he collapsed onto her.

When Buffy felt his teeth on her throat, she had one moment of panic in which she was sure she had completely misjudged him. Then he took his long, strong pull of her blood and she felt herself gripped by another orgasm, more powerful than the first one. When his teeth slid out and he collapsed on to her, first carefully licking his puncture marks to close them, she almost wept with relief.

_It's okay. He wasn't trying to kill me. He was marking me. That's o— Oh my God! He was marking me! Giles is gonna be so pissed._

When he continued to lie on top of her, Buffy started to become aware of the hard, dirty floor under her back and the way his weight was impacting her ability to breathe.

"Spike," she whispered, "Spike? I need you to move."

"Never want to move," he mumbled into her neck. "Never, never."

Even as he spoke, he was reluctantly rolling himself off, pulling her with him as he did, so that he was now on his back and she was lying on top of him.

"Better, pet?" he asked as he ran one hand up and down her bare back, brushing off the dust and grit.

She squirmed against him, bringing a rumbling purr from his chest, and said, "Much. I'm really pretty dependent on air you know."

"Soddin' humans and their weaknesses," he grumbled, kissing her cheek and smiling to let her know he was kidding.

"Well we can't all be undead, bloodsucking... whatevers," she snarked back.

He sat up, pulling her up with him into his lap. Her legs were still wrapped around him and her eyes got big as she felt him harden and swell inside her.

"We have bad guys to find," she whimpered when he began to pull on her hips as he pushed up into her. "I have to go slay evil..."

"Evil, Big Bad right here, love," he growled into her ear as he continued to move under her. "The other soddin' demon can just wait to die. This one wants his "petite morte" right now."

"His petty-wha? Aaah!" Instead of translating "the little death" for her, Spike reached between them and pinched her clit just as he put his mouth on his marks and sucked hard as he exploded into her again. When she collapsed against him, still trembling from the force of the orgasm, he whispered in her ear, "That's "le petite morte", sweetheart."

The aftereffects of so many orgasms within such a short period of time had left Buffy both speechless and incapable of movement. She lay bonelessly against the vampire's chest; the only thing holding her up being his tight embrace. When she felt him begin to stiffen inside her again, she reluctantly pushed herself away from his chest and looked up at him in amazement.

"You've got to be kidding," she said with disbelief. "No way!"

"Oh, way, baby," he smirked at her. "What's the matter, Slayer? Can't keep up with the Big Bad?"

Buffy glared at him, then began to squeeze him until his eyes rolled back into his head and he groaned her name. Before he could follow it up with another bout of sex, she rose up onto her knees and allowed his now rock hard cock to slide out of her. She continued to squeeze him as she pulled away, trying not to let him know that she was almost as unwilling to move as he was.

When he finally came all the way out with a wet, popping sound, he growled and tried to pull her back, but she was already standing and moving away before he realized what was happening.

"Slayer, Buffy, love of my life, you aren't goin' to leave me like this, are you?" he whimpered, pointing to his throbbing erection. The air felt incredibly cold on his bereft cock now that it wasn't buried in Buffy's body.

Buffy was already finding and pulling on her clothes as she scolded him, "Try thinking about something else for a minute, will you, Spike! There's a bad guy out there and we're wasting time having sex in the roller coaster tower."

"We could have it somewhere else, if you'd like," he said hopefully, pulling up his pants. "How about going back to the hall of mirrors? I think I'd fancy watching us..."

Shaking her head, Buffy was already heading for the door as he stumbled after, pulling his shirt on as he did so. She scanned the main street for any sign of ax-wielding clowns, then frowned as she tried to settle on her next move. When Spike moved up beside her he gestured toward the large building all the way at the end of the street.

"Saw a lot of people wanderin' in there when we were on top of the roller coaster, pet. Think that's prob'ly our next place to check out."

Buffy strode off in that direction, barely registering that Spike had taken her hand and was walking beside her, swinging it gently. When she realized it, she laughed to herself when she thought about what they must look like. Spike in his swirling leather duster and platinum hair, axe in one hand, girlfriend's hand in the other.

_I sooo did not just think of myself as his girlfriend. We're just holding hands so we don't get separated in the crowd, _she told herself, blithely ignoring the fact that there was no one else on the street.

They saw no other humans as they trudged toward the building they hoped was hiding the villain-of-the-day. They did, however, see many apparently animated plastic decorations and statues. Most of the semi-alive creatures avoided the two axe-carrying humans, but every once in a while a small dragon-like creature would run up and try to nip at them with sharp little teeth.

Spike took the head off one of them with a swipe of his axe, and the rest began to keep their distance. Eventually they lost interest in the two people and wandered away, looking for whatever plastic dragon babies eat.

As they approached the building, they went past the darkened entrance to the Tunnel of Love. Leaning on her elbow in one of the boats was a vision in gossamer fabric. Her lacy wings, pointed ears and delicate features identified her as a fairy; albeit one much more life-sized than the tiny creatures one would normally associate with that term.

She stood up as they approached and smiled sweetly at Spike, ignoring completely the human woman still holding his hand.

"Well, aren't you a pretty thing," he said, dropping Buffy's hand and leaning forward, his eyes glazed with lust. "Somethin' we can do for you, luv?"

While Buffy stared in dismay, the petite being batted her incredibly long eyelashes at him and said in a sultry voice, "Oh, you are so sweet to ask. If you could just come with me for a few moments..." She gestured at the boat in which she had been reclining, and sank back down on the pillows filling the bottom.

When it looked like Spike was actually going to climb into the boat with the simpering fairy, Buffy moved past him and buried her axe in the bottom of the boat.

"Whoops! My bad. Sorry about that, Tinkerbelle," she smirked as it began to fill with water. The now furious and much -ess-attractive-looking creature began to hiss and yowl as she tried to stay out of the water.

"You bitch!" she screamed, flapping her decorative but hardly efficient wings. "You are such a bitch!"

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Buffy agreed cheerfully as she grabbed Spike by his collar and pulled him off toward their target building. As soon as she was sure he wasn't going to go back, she let go, laughing as he pulled himself up to his full height.

"I had it all under control," he snapped indignantly, shaking his duster back into place. "I knew what I was doing."

She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Yeah, so did I. You were about to follow your dick right into that tunnel."

"Was not!" he huffed. "I was just lettin' her think I was going with her. That's all."

Buffy rolled her eyes and moved faster. "You can thank me later," she snarked over her shoulder as they approached the mysterious building.

**Chapter Three**

"What do you suppose it is?" she whispered, looking at the large, oval building and its wooden walls.

"It's an old fashioned dance hall, pet. All amusement parks used to have 'em."

She frowned in disbelief. "Why would people go to an amusement park to dance, rather than a club?"

He rolled his eyes. "Because, you silly bint, back in the day proper young ladies didn't go to drinkin' establishments. And proper young men didn't ask them to. But a pleasant afternoon in an amusement park, followed by some sedate dancin', now that was an acceptable way to court a lady."

Buffy snorted indelicately, "Yeah, like you'd know all about how to court a 'proper young lady'."

He gave her an unfathomable look and shrugged. "Might surprise you, Slayer," he said quietly.

She tossed her head at the cryptic remark and looked back at the dance hall.

"All right, focus, Spike. How do we find out what's going on in there?"

"I think we look in the windows," he offered helpfully.

When Buffy cast a skeptical look at the glass panes well above their heads, he smiled and grabbed her knees.

"Balance, pet," he ordered as he slowly raised her up over his head. She rested her hands lightly on the windowsill and carefully peered down into the large open space. The first thing she noticed were all the people dancing around and around the building to music that apparently only they could hear. Many of them looked exhausted, but their feet continued to carry them around in what Buffy suspected was a waltz of some sort.

Standing on the bandstand at one end of the room was a dark haired man conducting an imaginary band and laughing to himself. When he turned around, Buffy gave a gasp as she saw his face.

"Ethan Rayne," she hissed. "I should have known."

She gestured to Spike to let her go, and dropped gracefully to the ground.

"I am so going to kill him this time!," she growled. "Because of him I had to get on a roller coaster. He is one dead sorcerer!"

"Was it really all that bad, love?" Spike asked softly, a hurt look on his face.

Buffy sighed and leaned into him for a second. "No. Some parts of it were..." She stopped and shook herself, "But we were being influenced by the magic he's got floating around this place. We would never have done that if—"

"Bloody hell, woman!" he exploded, still keeping his voice down. "What does it take to make you see what we have between us?"

He stared into her doubtful eyes, willing her to acknowledge the mutual attraction and his growing emotional need for her. When her lip started to tremble and she tried to look away, he held her shoulders and leaned in to press his forehead against hers.

"The only thing magical about my feelings for you is the way you make me feel alive. I felt like this before I walked into this soddin' park, and I'll feel the same way when we walk out. Don't tell me you don't feel it too, Buffy. I know you do."

"I can't! I can't fall in—into a relationship with another vampire. I won't," she insisted, sticking her lower lip out for emphasis.

"Won't and can't – two different things, pet. And neither one of them means don't." He briefly nipped at her lower lip, then let go of her shoulders. "But we've got a bad guy to stop, so we'll talk about this later," he said briskly. "So, what's the plan?"

"The plan is, I go in there and shove that imaginary baton he's waving around up his evil British butt!"

"Not bad as plans go," he agreed with an appreciative smile. "But he is a sorcerer. What if you can't get to him?"

"I suppose you have a better idea?" she growled.

"Yep, jus' follow my lead," he said, scooping her up and throwing her over his shoulder. "Shh" he warned when she started to sputter threats. "You're supposed to be in thrall."

"I am so going to kill you later," she ground out through her teeth.

As a reply, he swatted her on her upturned ass just as he strode through the wide doors and into the swirling mass of dancers. From the bandstand he could be see Ethan turn and watch his progress across the floor. He strode confidently up to foot of the stage and with a small squeeze to Buffy's leg warned her that he was going to let go. As gently as he could without being obvious, he dropped her onto the floor at his feet and said cockily, "Whatever you're up to here, I'm sure it would go better without this bint snoopin' around."

"You do realize you just brought the Slayer into my workshop, don't you? I should turn you into a bloodsucking toad."

Spike just smirked at the angry man and gestured at Buffy's exposed neck. He could feel the fury radiating off her and hoped the other man wasn't picking up on it. Very cautiously, the sorcerer leaned over and looked at the fresh marks on Buffy's neck.

"You bit the Slayer? Why isn't she dead?" He stared at Spike with new respect, suddenly remembering where he's seen him before. "You're William the Bloody! I thought you couldn't bite humans anymore. That your Slayer-killing days were over."

"Yeah, well, reports of my... affliction... were a little premature. Seems to have worn off. Good for me. Bad for the Slayer."

As Buffy listened to them banter back and forth, it suddenly occurred to her to wonder why Spike's chip hadn't fired when he bit her. Her blood ran cold at the possibility that he was telling the truth about the chip not working.

"Again, I ask, why isn't she dead like the other two Slayers you fought?"

Spike shrugged carelessly and leaned against the stage. He moved so casually that the other man didn't register that he was now within reach of a master vampire. He lit a cigarette and blew out the smoke in Buffy's direction, laughing when she coughed from her place on the floor.

"Kinda fancied the bitch and thought it might be more fun to keep her around for a while. If you get my drift," he added, wiggling his eyebrows and leering. "I can always kill her later when I'm tired of playing with her. Right now I've got my own little Slayer blood bank. Not gonna give that up for a while."

When the sorcerer leaned over to look more closely at the girl on the floor, Buffy struggled to maintain a dazed look as she mentally prepared a sharpened stake for Spike's heart. If it weren't for the fact that she knew, mind-blowing sexual acts to the contrary, that she was NOT in a thrall, she would have been sure that Spike was telling the truth about wanting to keep her to play with.

She was still processing the whole "Slayer blood bank" ick, when Spike grabbed the forward-leaning man and threw him down beside Buffy. She was on him in an instant, her arm across his windpipe shutting off his air, as she reached for Spike's sword.

She pressed the semi-conscious man onto the floor and placed the point of the sword against his back.

"Release them now," she growled, pushing the point in hard enough to draw blood to emphasize her seriousness.

Ethan managed to strangle out a few words of Latin and the exhausted dancers fell to the floor where they stood. As they recovered their strength, they began to stagger out the door and head for their cars.

Buffy yanked the abashed looking man to his feet and shoved him toward the door. "Let's go Ethan. I'll let Giles decide what to do with you. Or maybe," she got an evil glint in her eye and turned to look at the vampire walking beside her. "Or maybe I'll just let Spike have you. Now that he doesn't have his 'Slayer blood bank', that is." She glared at the unrepentant vampire and pushed Ethan in his direction.

They both laughed at the abject terror on the man's face when he was confronted with a hungry-looking Spike in game face.

"You—you're the Slayer. You're not really going to let him bite me are you?" he asked uncertainly.

"Why not?" she asked, waving her hand airily, "I think he's probably pretty hungry. He burned a lot of calories earlier this evening and he probably needs to replace them."

Spike stared at her open-mouthed. Was she actually joking about letting him bite someone? And about their earlier activities?

_Damn! I think I could love this girl._

Before Ethan began blubbering and begging her to save him from the hungry looking vampire, they spotted Giles and the Scoobies headed their way, moving against the crowd of weary dancers trying to get to the parking lot.

"I might have known," Giles growled when he spotted their captive. He looked curiously from Spike's fangy face to Buffy's unconcerned one, then realized what was going on as Ethan threw his arms around him begging, "Ripper, do something with your Slayer. She's going to feed me to the vampire!"

Giles struggled to maintain a straight face as he chided Buffy for offering to feed the sorcerer to Spike.

"Ah, bloody hell. He'd probably give me magical indigestion anyway," Spike said, allowing his human face to emerge.

The grateful man clutched Giles and said in gratitude, "Rupert, did you know your Slayer lets this vampire drink from her? She wears his mark. She's in his thrall."

Giles and the Scoobies moved off toward the cars, laughing at the babbling magician as they pulled him along with them.

"As if!" they could hear Xander say as he followed them. Anya and Willow just waited quietly to see if Buffy and Spike were coming with them. When Buffy shook her head slightly, they exchanged knowing smiles and walked off with a wave.

**Epilogue**

The two should-be-mortal-enemies stood facing each other in the now darkened and deserted park. It was eerily still now that all the patrons had left and the inanimate objects were back to being inanimate. Without speaking, Buffy took Spike's hand and they began walking back the way they had come.

When then got to the Tunnel of Love, they stopped to stare at the sunken barge, which now had a carved statue of a fairy on its bow. Next to it was another, still floating, barge with soft pillows lining the bottom.

Spike cocked an eyebrow at her, then stepped into the boat and held out his hand.

"M' lady?" he asked softly. "Would you do me the honor of going for a ride with me?"

"If you promise to behave like a proper gentleman," was her prim answer as she stepped daintily into the little barge.

He held her hand until she had settled herself on the pillows, then pushed them away from the side and sat down close to her. He maintained a proper distance from her until they were well inside the tunnel, then he stopped the boat and slid into his vampire face.

"What's that all about?" she asked warily, remembering what he'd said to Ethan.

"The better to see you, love." He answered, running one hand along her cheek. "Not because I want to hurt you."

"Spike," she worried her lower lip with her teeth briefly, then looked into his amber eyes. "Why didn't your chip fire when you bit me?" She asked the question that had been haunting her ever since he mentioned it. "Has it really stopped working?"

He looked at her worried face for a minute, then asked, "If it has...?"

She felt her face crumple as she looked away from him. Before the tears building behind her eyes could fall, she felt herself pulled against him with one arm as the other went to her face and pushed her hair back so that he could see her eyes. He leaned in and planted a gentle kiss on her mouth.

"In the first place," he said, clearly reading her concern, "If it had, it wouldn't matter. I would never do anything to make you have to stake me. Would never hurt you like that, love. You have to believe me."

Buffy allowed a spark of hope to grow as she listened to him.

"In the second place, the reason it didn't fire when I bit you is because I wasn't trying to hurt you. That wasn't an act of violence."

"Then what was it an act of?" she demanded, wondering how it could not be considered an act of violence.

He tipped her chin toward him and looked at her intently with his once again, beautiful blue eyes. "Are you sure you want the answer to that question, Buffy?"

The answer was plainly written on his now-human face and she shook her head slowly, deciding that was more than she wanted to deal with just then. She missed the quick look of pain that crossed his face when she shook her head "no", but felt him start to pull away and quickly slipped her arms around his neck.

"I..." she began tentatively. "I'm not ready to hear that answer, Spike." Her mouth was close to his ear and her warm breath felt like a gentle caress. "I'm not ready to hear it, but I'd really like to feel it again. If that's okay?" When he didn't respond, she began to talk faster until her words began to trip over each other.

"I mean I understand why it might not be. Okay, that is. I mean you want to bite me and I want you to bite me, but I don't want to know what it really means, cause then I'd have to think about vampires and slayers and—"

He finally took pity on her and stopped her words with his lips and tongue. Buffy moaned in relief as she melted into him and they sank down onto the soft pillows covering the bottom of the boat. For the next several minutes the world was narrowed to the feel of cool lips and tongue meeting warm ones as they let their hungry mouths say the things they knew they shouldn't be feeling.

When Spike began to move down her throat, dropping soft, wet kisses as he went, Buffy let her head fall back, giving him complete access to her neck. He smiled at her obvious invitation, but continued to trail down her collarbone until he reached the open neck on blouse. He began unbuttoning it, one button at a time, smiling as she slid her hands under the waistband of his pants to tug on his tee shirt. He pushed her hands away and whispered, "No, pet, we're taking it slow this time."

When she stuck her lower lip out, he sucked on it for a minute even as he continued unbuttoning her shirt. When he was done, he slid it off her shoulders and continued kissing a path down into her cleavage. He pulled one nipple into his mouth and sucked on it through the lacy fabric while his hand released the clasp on her bra. Buffy felt the tug all the way down to her womb. As soon as the offending lace was gone, he swirled his tongue around one nipple, then the other causing her to arch up into his mouth moaning with need.

He ran his mouth down her flat stomach, stopping to nuzzle her belly button while he applied himself to the clasp on her pants. Without the urgency of their first time, he was able to master it without Buffy's help and he slid the zipper down, following it with his mouth. When he moved away to go to her feet and pull her shoes and pants off, Buffy whimpered at the loss of his tongue and the incredible sensations it was sending though her body.

He looked up from his position at her feet and caught his unneeded breath at the sight. His eyes followed her tan, muscular legs up to the juncture marked by soft, already wet, curls.

"You are so beautiful, Buffy. My lovely golden girl."

Beginning at her toes, he kissed and caressed his way up her legs until he reached the top of her thighs. By the time his cool lips were slipping around to the silky skin on the inside of her thigh, Buffy's breath was coming in gasps and she was writhing on the pillows. When his tongue parted her folds and ran from her opening to her swollen nub, her hips shot up and she gave a strangled yelp.

"Shhh, love. Gonna make it so good for you. Wanna do you right this time, Buffy. Let me show you how good I can make it. Want to make you forget everybody else you ever knew. Just lay back and let Spike love you like I want to."

Using his tongue and his talented fingers, he brought her to ecstasy over and over until she was too exhausted from coming to even respond when he finally slid up her body and nuzzled her neck.

"Did you like that, love? Did I make it good for you, Buffy?"

Her response to his ridiculous question was an inarticulate "mmmmph" and a weak attempt to run her fingers through his hair as he smiled into her neck.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," he said as he kissed her tenderly. "Now it's my turn."

While Buffy watched him through lidded eyes, he stripped off his tee shirt and stood up to unfasten his jeans. As he pushed them down over his hips, he saw her eyes widen and her breathing increased slightly as she ran her eyes over his lean, muscular body. In the dim light of the tunnel he looked like an alabaster statue. Until he moved. Then he flowed like the supernatural predator he was.

Buffy's breath caught in her throat as he lowered himself until he was just barely touching her from head to toe. The heat from her body made him feel like he was touching the sun as he gradually allowed his weight to press into her. Buffy gasped as he pressed his cool length against her and she reached around his back to pull him closer.

"I want to make it good for you, Spike," she whispered into his ear. "Tell me what to do. Help me make it good."

"Ah, Buffy, love, you couldn't make it bad if you tried."

He positioned himself at her entrance and held himself there as he looked down into her eyes. "Tell me you want me, love. Ask me in." He tried to keep the pleading from his voice as he asked her to tell him she wanted him inside her.

"I want you, Spike. I want you inside me. I want you to make love to me."

With a groan, he slid into her waiting warmth, burying himself as far as he could go. "This is as close to heaven as this vampire is ever going to get," he murmured, giving her time to get used to feeling him inside her again.

With a little squeeze that made him draw in air with a gasp, she showed him that she was ready and more than willing to begin. When he didn't immediately begin moving his hips, she started to rhythmically squeeze around him, not moving anything but her enhanced pelvic muscles. To her surprise, she found that just that little bit of movement on her part set pressure building in her lower abdomen. Spike filled her so completely that clenching and releasing around him created almost the same sensations as if he was pounding into her.

_Oh my god. I think if I kept doing this I could... oh,yeah, I definitely could! But this is supposed to be for Spike, maybe I should—_

"I'm sorry," she whispered to him as she started to rock her pelvis against his. "I didn't mean to forget about you. I was just—"

"You were just about to drive me bloody crazy, pet," he whispered back as he stilled her hips. "You just keep doing that as long as you want. I don't think I've ever felt anything quite so—bloody hell!"

When Buffy took him at his word and clenched tightly around him again, he felt like his cock was caught in a hot velvet vice. As she continued her rhythmic squeeze and release, squeeze and release, concentrating as much on her own building orgasm as she was on him, he began to babble endearments that didn't sound at all like the crude, punk rocker vampire she thought she knew.

"My goddess, my beautiful golden girl, my queen... so tight, so warm... ah, that's the way, don't stop, my love. Make me feel you, darling, my sweetheart, my beautiful Buffy... love you, love you, love you!"

As he exploded within her, he could no longer control himself and he pumped fiercely, releasing everything he had into her welcoming body. Buffy spasmed with him, giving a muffled shriek as she sank her teeth into the hard, corded muscle running from his neck to his shoulder. When the vampire felt her teeth sink into his flesh, his fangs descended and he slid them into the same place in her throat that he had marked earlier.

The first strong pull of blood renewed the fading orgasms in both Slayer and vampire and they clung together allowing the waves of pleasure to roll over them again. Buffy came to her senses to feel Spike gently licking the punctures in her throat. A soft purring sound was coming from him, and she could feel the vibration from it along the length of her body.

When she thought she could speak without gasping, she asked with a small smile, "So, is that how a proper Victorian gentleman courts a proper lady? Cause I don't think..."

Spike snorted a laugh. "Wouldn't know, love. Poncy William never got that close to a live woman. He wouldn't have known what to do with you."

Buffy gazed at his face, watching his expression change from cocky vampire to tender lover. She touched his lips lightly with a finger and remembered his words when he was inside her.

"You know," she said softly, "I think he would have. I think he would have done just fine.'

She filed away the things she was learning about Spike before he was turned to think about some other time. She reached her arms over her head and gave a full-body stretch, working her incredibly relaxed muscles as she did so.

Spike hissed and grabbed her hands, as her strong, supple body flexed under him. He brought his mouth back to her neck and licked his marks.

"You got two choices here, Slayer," he said as he nuzzled the marks, making her shiver all over. "You can stop teasing me and get dressed so we can get out of here before dawn... or," he continued, settling himself back between her legs so she could feel his revitalized erection, "you can stay here with me all day while I wait for the sun to go back down."

"Or," she replied with a wicked smile, "I can just take care of that little—" at a thunderous look from the vampire, she giggled and amended, "that big problem for you and we can go home before they send a search party for us."

With that, she flipped them over so that she was on top of him, holding his arms pinned to the bottom of the barge. "Wonder what William would have done if he'd had one of those proper ladies doing this to him?"

She slid down his body, running her hands over his smooth, muscular chest as she leaned down to run her tongue from his belly button to the base of his shaft. She held his now rock-hard cock lightly with her hand as she kissed all around his lower abdomen, down one thigh and up the other. When he unconsciously spread his legs with a groan, she slipped under it and planted light kissed on his sac, before pulling it into her mouth and rolling his balls around with her tongue.

"Ungh!' he gasped as his hips shot up in the air. Buffy pressed him down with one hand as she used the other to hold his cock still for her mouth. She wrapped her warm lips around the head, and poked at the slit there with her little pink tongue, causing more inarticulate sounds to come from the man under her. Spike was gripping the pillows so hard the fabric was ripping, as he tried to remain still under the Slayer's inexperienced but inventive ministrations.

"You'll have to tell me if I'm not doing this right," she said as she licked from one end to the other. "I've never done it before, so I don't know if..."

She stopped teasing him with her words and took as much of him in her mouth as she could. She began a slow steady rhythm up and down, sucking in her cheeks as she came up and trying to take in a little more each time on the way down.

Knowing he didn't have much time before sunrise, and that Buffy was working hard to get him off by herself, Spike didn't even attempt to control his body. He just lay on the cushions and allowed the pleasurable sensations to flow over him as the Slayer's hot mouth coaxed another mind-blowing orgasm from him. When he knew he was near, he reached for her and tried to pull her away, but she shook her head stubbornly and continued to suck on him until he arched up into her mouth roaring her name.

"See," she said with a perky smile, "that didn't take long, did it?" Spike was laying still, taking huge gulps of entirely unnecessary air and didn't respond at all. Frowning, she allowed the first trace of insecurity to enter her voice as she prodded, "Spike? Was that okay? Did I do it right?"

He pulled her up to lie along his side and stroked her silky blond hair. "If it was any more right, I would have turned to dust, love."

She relaxed against him in relief for a moment, then murmured against his chest, "We have to go now. I can't stay here all day, as much as I might like to..."

He squeezed her hard for a second, before reluctantly releasing her and sitting up.

"Knowin' you'd like to is enough for me, love. I know you've got to get back. You've got responsibilities, the world to save, important stuff like that."

He smiled at her but she could see the fear in his eyes.

_He thinks this was it. That once we leave here I won't want him anymore. I wonder if he's right? Not that I won't want him. I will. I know I will. But can I face my Watcher and my friends and tell them I'm seeing another vampire?_

Spike watched the emotions flow across her face as she pulled her clothes on. As she was rebuttoning her shirt, she remembered the care with which he had undone the buttons one at a time as he prepared to please her over and over.

As much as she didn't want him to say it, she knew full well what it meant when a vampire bit someone during sex.

_I'm not stupid. You don't bother to mark someone unless they mean something to you. It doesn't hurt him to bite me because he's doing it out of love. Somehow I don't think Giles is going to see it that way, though..._

_Bollocks! She's worrying about her watcher and the soddin' Scoobies. Any second now she's gonna tell me this was all because of magic and she doesn't want to have anythin' more to do with me. I don't know if I can handle that. Can't go back to the way it was. Can't forget what we did, how she feels, the sounds she makes..._

Buffy was silent as Spike pushed the barge back out of the tunnel and up to the platform. In an attempt to get back some of the comfortable feelings they'd had earlier, he stepped out and offered her his arm as he said, "I had a truly lovely time this evening, Ms. Summers. I do hope we can do it again sometime."

She silently took his arm and stepped up on the platform beside him. In spite of his light-hearted words and attempt to be casual, she could read his anguished eyes and knew what he was thinking. Before she could change her mind, she slipped her arm in his and turned them toward the gate. They walked down the street, her arm in his, as though they were strolling through a 19th century park.

"I, too, enjoyed our time together, Mr –William," she said in an awful approximation of a British accent. "I... I sincerely hope we can repeat it sometime."

When he shot her a look filled with hope, she added, "Sometime soon."

Dropping any pretense that he was anything but a love-struck vampire, he picked her up and spun around with her, growling fiercely the whole time. She threw back her head and laughed as he whirled her around, growling into her neck even as he kissed his marks over and over.

"Do you mean it, Slayer? You're not gonna kick me to the curb now that you can go back to the Scoobies?"

"I do mean it," she smiled up at him. "But we're going to have to break it to them gradually. And," she added with a lustful lick of her lips, "you're going to have to find somewhere else to bite me, cause that part? Not sharing with anybody just yet. Especially not Giles!"

"Not a problem, love." He smirked at her. "I can think of lots of other places to bite you that no one will ever see. Better not, anyway," he added with another growl.

Buffy blushed and swatted at him as she walked out of the park. "Come on, Big Bad. Walk me home so I can pick up a turtleneck to wear for a couple of days."

She gave a shiver as he caught up with her and ran his finger over his marks. "Those are meant to last a long time, love," he said softly. "Don't intend for them to be gone in a couple a days."

She looked at him with exasperation. "You know I can't go back to my watcher with more vampire bites on my neck! He'd stake you in a heartbeat."

"'S alright, Slayer," he said with a smile. "I'll head for the mall as soon as the sun goes down."

"The mall?" she stared at him as though he'd lost his mind.

"Yeah, I hear the Gap is having a sale on turtleneck shirts..."

The end

_AN: Okay, lame ending, I know, but I'm bored with it. Also, I know I have Buffy's shirt being pulled off in one scene and unbuttoned in another, but I don't care. Pretend it was a really stretchy or baggy shirt. I liked my unbuttoning Spike and didn't want to change him._

_There is a sequel (Return to the Tunnel of Love) but not sure it's worth putting up by itself._


	2. Return to the Tunnel of Love

_Prompt: Boat Ride_

_Rating: Strong PG 13_

_Summary: Sunnydale's amusement park is having trouble again. This time, patrons are disappearing in the Tunnel of Love. _

**Return to the Tunnel of Love**

Giles pinched his nose and rubbed his forehead as Buffy bounced in the door, followed closely by the vampire who now seemed to accompany her everywhere.

"We're here, Giles," she announced unnecessarily, ignoring the way he frowned at her companion. "What's the what?"

"It seems that the Sunnydale Funland amusement park is having trouble again," he replied, tapping the paper on his desk. "Several disappearances from the Tunnel of Love."

"I'll bet it's that slutty fairy," Buffy muttered, earning a puzzled look from Giles and an eye roll from Spike.

"She wasn't real, love. Remember? Just another one of Rupert's mate's delaying tactics."

"Well, who knows? Maybe Ethan came back and—"

"He didn't," Giles said shortly. "This may be something magical, but I'm inclined to think it's a demonic thing. Some sort of predator in the tunnel somewhere."

Spike nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. "Could be, at that. It's a good place for a vamp nest -– nice dark place to live, food delivery to your door every day, plenty of walking around meals if you feel like going out at night... Can see that." He was nodding in approval when he noticed the two sets of narrowed eyes glaring at him. "Not that it's the right thing to do," he added quickly. "It would be wrong, and evil and—"

"Forget it," Buffy said with a sigh. "You're already in trouble." She looked up at Giles. "It does make sense, though. It's a perfect place for a vamp nest. And nobody would notice what was happening. The boats are far apart and it's really dark, and..."

"And most couples aren't going to be payin' that much attention to their surroundings," Spike added, wiggling his eyebrows. "Are they, pet?" Buffy's blush didn't go unnoticed, nor did Giles' accompanying groan. Spike just grinned at him and held the door open for Buffy. "Let's go, Slayer. There's evil afoot and we need to take a slow ride into a dark place."

"You keep rubbing this in Giles' face and he's going to be putting you in the Hoover," she muttered as they walked away.

"Nah," he said, bumping her arm with his. "If he didn't do it right off, when he asked about the turtleneck you were wearin', he's not gonna do it now. I've already proved my worth, haven't I?"

"I had that under control," she growled, knowing he was referring to the events of a few nights ago.

Buffy did believe that she would have been able to get out of the situation herself, but she couldn't deny that knowing Spike was protecting Giles and Xander had made it much easier for her to concentrate on the demons she'd been facing. And, if he hadn't saved her life by tackling one just as it leapt onto her back, he had at least saved her from serious injury. She shuddered, remembering how close the demon's teeth had come to her neck. The furious snarls and barely understandable curses coming from Spike as he tore the demon apart with his fangs and claws had the Scoobies staying on the opposite side of the room from him the rest of the night.

He just nodded and said, " 'course you did, pet. Never doubted it." His eyes slid in her direction and she gave him a small smile.

"You might have helped... a little," she admitted. "You know you scared Giles and Xander into the middle of next week."

Spike's expression wavered between pride and shame, pride finally winning out. "Bloody bastard tried to touch you," he said, drawing himself up to his full height. "I couldn't have kept my demon under control if I'd wanted to." He nudged her again, " 'sides, it won't hurt them to remember I can be scary. Makes me feel all manly when they cower in the corner."

"Yeah, yeah, Big Bad. Save that for people who haven't seen you hopping around in a chair yelling about the bear in the room." Buffy giggled as he growled and grabbed her from behind.

"It was a bloody _big_ bear!" he insisted. "And I was tied to a chair!"

"I wouldn't have let the bear have you," Buffy said, turning in his arms and touching his cheek with her fingers. "Nobody can beat up on my vampire, but me."

"If I wasn't a vamp, that probably wouldn't sound as arousing as it does, would it?" He nuzzled her neck, still holding her in a tight embrace, smiling as her heart rate went up. She whimpered when his lips brushed across the fading marks he'd left on her the previous week. "Anyway, wasn't yours yet then. For all I knew, you were going to feed me to the bear." He nibbled gently on the side of her neck, sliding his hands under her shirt to stroke her back.

"Okay," she said, pushing against his chest. "You need to stop that stuff. We've got slaying to do."

"Spoil sport," he said, letting her go, but taking her hand in his.

"Since when do you call killing things 'spoiling'?"

"Good point, love." He picked up his pace. "Let's go get 'em!"

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

The cleaning out of the now-deserted Tunnel of Love was almost too easy. With customers becoming reluctant to go in – now that word had gotten out that not everyone actually came out the other side – it was easy for Buffy and Spike to walk up and convince the nervous ride attendant that he should let them take one of the boats through. Buffy carefully picked one without any painted fairies on the prow, smacking Spike when he laughed at her.

They settled on the cushioned seat and let the water pull them into the darkened tunnel. Although the soft lighting that would normally have provided some small amount of visibility was not working, Spike's vampire eyes had no trouble seeing.

"Heads up, love," he said. "Think I was right about it being a nest."

"Yeah," she whispered. "I can feel them."

As their boat went around a bend, leaving the last vestiges of outside lighting behind, Spike shifted into game face and began to growl. The first vampire landed in the boat before Buffy even registered how close he was – only to meet her stake when Spike grabbed him and pushed him onto it.

"This sucks!" Buffy growled. "I can't see a damn thing."

"Close your eyes, love. Feel them."

"Use the force?" she said. "Thanks, Obi-wan, that's very useful." Her sarcasm wasn't lost on Spike and he growled at her.

"Guess we need to work on that, then," he said. "It's something you should be able to do. Meanwhile..." As he was speaking, he was pulling down the fake walls beside them and making a pile of wood and canvas in the prow of the boat. He took out his lighter and flicked it on, handing it to Buffy and stepping back as far away as he could get. "Here, make yourself some light, Slayer. We've got incoming."

The dry, painted canvas flared up, illuminating three more vampires standing along a narrow ledge. They shrank back from the fire, pinning themselves against the wall where Buffy staked two of them without a fight. The third vamp turned to run, jumping into the shallow water, only to find Spike waiting for him. The fight was short and soon Buffy and Spike were standing on the ledge watching their now-flaming boat drift away.

"Do you feel any more?" he asked. "Or did we get them all?"

"Can't you tell? I thought you could hear everything?"

"Can," he said shortly. "Not the point. I'm not the one who can't see in the dark and who has to fight things that can. I need to know that your senses are doing their job. Now tell me if you can feel any more vamps!"

"Sheesh! You sound like Giles," she grumbled. "He's all, 'close your eyes, Buffy. What do you feel?'"

In spite of her words, she did shut her eyes, blocking out the faint light from the burning boat now sinking as it floated away. She concentrated on separating the familiar tingle that said "Spike" from anything else. She frowned, then her eyes flew open just as the last vampire leapt at her, landing on the stake she had raised. As he dust floated away, she glared at Spike.

"You couldn't have just told me he was stalking me?"

"Could have. But that wouldn't have helped you learn to sense danger, would it?"

Buffy cocked her head at him, knowing he could see her, even though she couldn't see him very well. She stared in his general direction, a small smile hovering on her face.

"What?"

"Nothing." Buffy looked away and shrugged. "It's just kind of weird, you know? The Slayer of Slayers worrying about keeping me alive."

He stepped into her space, sliding his arms around her. "That's William worrying about the woman he loves," he said softly. "An' maybe a bit of the demon wanting to be sure he isn't going to lose his mate."

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh', Slayer. Not goin' to lose you. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever."

"Spike." Buffy sighed and leaned into his chest, nuzzling against him. "You know I'm going to die someday, right? Probably sooner rather than later."

His arms tightened. "Later, love. It's goin' to be much, much later. I promise you. You're going to be the longest lived slayer in history – even if I have to make your watcher look like a slacker when it comes to trainin' you."

"Oh, joy. So I'll have two of you trying to tell me what to do. I can't wait." She gave a half-hearted push to his chest. "What's in it for me?"

"There could be rewards..." he whispered in her ear, pulling her against his body. "Startin' as soon as we grab the next boat." As he spoke, he reached one arm out and snagged the next little boat, pulling it up on the shelf with them. It just barely fit on the concrete lip, but a small shove against the fake stone backdrop gave them more room. He guided Buffy, who was once again without any light, into the boat, kicking the small wooden seats away so that the cushions fell onto the floor, making a soft area in which to lie down.

"I can't see anymore," she murmured as she squirmed under him.

"There's a vampire here, love. Can't you feel him?"

"Oooo, why yes. I think I can, now that you mention it. I don't think he's trying to kill me, though..."

"He might settle for making you scream."

_THE END_


End file.
